Tay Ninh food guide

Trảng Bàng young beef steamed with ginger, one of the plates from the young-beef rooms on Quốc lộ 22. The beef is naturally sweet and soft.

Trảng Bàng young beef dipped in vinegar, one of the plates from the young-beef rooms on Quốc lộ 22. The beef is naturally sweet and soft.

A ferment of tép and cá cơm from Hồ Dầu Tiếng, or tiny cá rễ tre, left about 15 days until it turns salty and sour with a sweet smell. It carries less salt than most mắm, so the sourness comes through.

A Cham Islam beef sausage, seasoned in the traditional way and fermented until it turns deep and lightly sour. It belongs to the community’s Halal cooking.

Beef curry from the Cham Islam community of Tây Ninh, cooked under Halal rules for choosing, preparing, and cooking food.

Dried snakehead tossed with sầu đâu leaves, the salt of the fish against the astringent leaf, with a bowl of mắm me on the side.

A sour soup of dried snakehead, soured gently with tamarind and filled out with pineapple and greens, the fish still sweet.

Dragon fruit from Đức Hòa, in the old Long An half, one of the province’s named farm goods.

Khu phố Gia Huỳnh, phường Trảng Bàng

A two-layer Trảng Bàng rice sheet, toasted over a peanut-shell fire until small bubbles rise, then rested briefly in the dew until it softens without going damp. You roll it at the table with boiled pork or young beef, a basket of garden and forest herbs, and a sauce that runs sour and sweet.

Phường Trảng Bàng and Quốc lộ 22

Trảng Bàng’s other bowl: long, soft rice-flour strands made without tapioca, in a pork-bone broth simmered for hours until it runs sweet and deep. It comes with pork hock, lean pork, blood cake or fish cake, scallion, and pepper.

Tây Ninh’s shrimp salt, salty, spicy, and aromatic, sold by the jar beside the Trảng Bàng rice paper. Eat it with fruit, with rice paper, or with other dishes.

Phường Trảng Bàng, phường An Tịnh, Quốc lộ 22

Young Trảng Bàng beef, naturally sweet and soft with a crisp skin, sliced thin, steamed or boiled, and rolled in bánh tráng phơi sương with herbs and forest leaves. It is the lunch plate of the Trảng Bàng stop.

Phường Trảng Bàng, phường An Tịnh, Quốc lộ 22

Trảng Bàng young beef grilled in the mọi style, one of the plates from the young-beef rooms on Quốc lộ 22. The beef is naturally sweet and soft.

Phường Trảng Bàng, phường An Tịnh, Quốc lộ 22

Trảng Bàng young beef grilled with lemongrass, one of the plates from the young-beef rooms on Quốc lộ 22. The beef is naturally sweet and soft.

Phường Trảng Bàng, phường An Tịnh, Quốc lộ 22

Trảng Bàng young beef steamed with ginger, one of the plates from the young-beef rooms on Quốc lộ 22. The beef is naturally sweet and soft.

Phường Trảng Bàng, phường An Tịnh, Quốc lộ 22

Trảng Bàng young beef dipped in vinegar, one of the plates from the young-beef rooms on Quốc lộ 22. The beef is naturally sweet and soft.

Phường Trảng Bàng, phường An Tịnh, Quốc lộ 22

Trảng Bàng young beef dipped in mắm ruốc, shrimp paste, one of the plates from the young-beef rooms on Quốc lộ 22. The beef is naturally sweet and soft.

Phường Trảng Bàng, phường An Tịnh, Quốc lộ 22

An oxtail hotpot from the young-beef rooms of Trảng Bàng, made from the same young animals as the rice-paper roll.

Phường Trảng Bàng, phường An Tịnh, Quốc lộ 22

A beef rice porridge from the young-beef rooms of Trảng Bàng, made from the same young animals as the rice-paper roll.

Núi Bà Đen and the land nearby

Custard apple from the slopes of Núi Bà Đen: a large, fragrant fruit with thick eyes, deep grooves, and chewy flesh. The mountain board calls it deeply sweet, and the tourism information center calls it lightly sweet.

A Khmer border bowl of thin rice noodles in a snakehead broth with fresh turmeric and lemongrass, the fish served as cake or in pieces. The broth is naturally sweet from the fish, with the salty heat of muối ớt.

Chợ Long Hoa, and đường 30 Tháng 4 in phường Tân Ninh

A ferment of tép and cá cơm from Hồ Dầu Tiếng, or tiny cá rễ tre, left about 15 days until it turns salty and sour with a sweet smell. It carries less salt than most mắm, so the sourness comes through.

A Cham Islam beef sausage, seasoned in the traditional way and fermented until it turns deep and lightly sour. It belongs to the community’s Halal cooking.

Beef curry from the Cham Islam community of Tây Ninh, cooked under Halal rules for choosing, preparing, and cooking food.

A small cake of the Cham Islam community, made for festivals and community gatherings, where it is a familiar taste.

Snakehead grilled in the field style and rolled with whatever forest leaves are in season. It shares the table with bò tơ, bánh tráng phơi sương, and muối tôm, and it is a plate of the old Long An half too.

A dim-sum dumpling from Tây Ninh’s Hoa kitchens, eaten beside há cảo and bánh bao.

A steamed bun from the everyday dim sum of Tây Ninh’s Hoa families, eaten with há cảo and xíu mại.

A steamed bun from the Hoa dim-sum table in Tây Ninh, served with há cảo and chân gà hấp tàu xì.

Chicken feet steamed with tàu xì, fermented black beans, from the Hoa dim-sum table in Tây Ninh.

Kênh 79 and the border markets

Dried snakehead from the Đồng Tháp Mười side of the province, sunned 3 to 4 days until the flesh is yellow-brown, firm, and still springy. The sweetness is the field fish, under a cure of salt, sugar, MSG, pepper, and chili.

Dried snakehead fried and finished with mắm me, a tamarind fish sauce that is sour and hot. Eat it with rice.

Dried snakehead tossed with sầu đâu leaves, the salt of the fish against the astringent leaf, with a bowl of mắm me on the side.

A sour soup of dried snakehead, soured gently with tamarind and filled out with pineapple and greens, the fish still sweet.

A fermented-fish hotpot from the old Long An half, its broth brown, thick, and gently sweet from mắm sặc, mắm trèn, and mắm linh. Dip fresh rice noodles and plates of greens, and pull them out while they are still crisp.

Mỹ Lệ, Chợ Đào

A long-grain, one-crop rice from Mỹ Lệ in Chợ Đào, pink inside the grain and fragrant as soon as the pot boils, cooked glossy and sticky. The variety has faded since a dike ended the yearly flood, and the commune is restoring it.

Số 05, ấp 3B, xã Mỹ Yên

A rice spirit from Gò Đen in the old Long An half, one of the province’s named specialties.

Đức Hòa

Dragon fruit from Đức Hòa, in the old Long An half, one of the province’s named farm goods.

A fresh sausage from the old Long An half, named with rượu đế Gò Đen and mắm còng Cần Giuộc among its specialties. It is not Tung Lò Mò, the fermented Cham beef sausage.

Cần Giuộc

Mắm còng, a crab paste from Cần Giuộc in the old Long An half, named among the area’s specialties.

Phường Trảng Bàng

The yards where sheets are poured, dried, and toasted. Come in the morning for the dew racks.

Quốc lộ 22B, Trảng Bàng

The market and the highway eating strip beside the craft village, on Quốc lộ 22B.